Microwave Properties of Metacomposites Containing Carbon Fibres and Ferromagnetic Microwires

The microwave properties of composites containing Fe-based ferromagnetic microwires and carbon fibres have been investigated as part of a campaign to bring added functionalities into structural composites. A transmission window observed in 1-6 GHz demonstrates double-negative (DNG), i.e., metamaterial characteristics in the composites containing short-cut carbon fibres and a parallel array of microwires; the metamaterial characteristic is due to the ferromagnetic resonance and a plasmonic behaviour, as short carbon fibres are proved to ameliorate DNG properties through enhancing the impedance of the composites. In parallel, magnetically tunable metamaterial features are realised in composites containing continuous carbon fibres and microwires, which can be switched on/off via rotating the electrical excitation direction. Such structural composites integrated with metamaterial features (termed as metacomposites) are potentially useful for active cloaking applications among others.